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sustainable manure management Articles

Poultry farmers in Holland face challenges similar to their North American counterparts in dealing with manure from concentrated operations where there is insufficient cropland for application. This creates a need for exporting manure from the producing farm to users in other places. Poultry operations in Holland differ from most North American poultry farms in that most are not vertically ...

A doubling of the global food demand projected for the next 50 years poses a huge challenge for the sustainability of both food production and global and local environments. Today’s agricultural technologies may be increasing productivity to meet world food demand, but they may also be threatening agricultural ecosystems. For the global environment, agricultural systems provide both sources and ...

“A Nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt. We have learned some harsh lessons about how to treat our soil. While most of us are aware of the problems of the past, some agricultural operations in the world are not heeding those lessons. We all know that healthy soil is essential to feed the ever-increasing ...

The Presidio is part of California’s Golden Gate National Recreation Area and the national park system. As an urban park on the northern edge of San Francisco, there are many challenges to be met in the quest to be a model of sustainability. An innovative composting program is becoming one way to help meet the park’s goals. Nearing the close of its second year, this program is well on its ...

Composting Reduces Fuel and Labor Costs on Family Farms Jeff and Pam Riesgraf — who manage a certified organic dairy and crop operation near Jordan, Minnesota — began composting manure from their dairy herd in 1993. They had two major objectives. First, they wanted to reduce weed seeds naturally present in manure. At the same time, they understood the need to protect water quality by ...

The soil, as the primary resource for food production and the most important tool for every farmer, is crucial for farming. Successful farming begins with the quality soil, which provides water and essential nutrients to the crops. Rich and healthy soil, combined with the appropriate amount of water and sunlight can significantly contribute to global food production. Proper soil management ...

Full Circle Feed in Syracuse makes healthy, environmentally-sustainable dog treats with unused meats, vegetables, fruits, and breads from restaurant buffets that were prepared but not served. It recently won the grand prize of $10,000 in Green America’s Fall 2016 People & Planet contest in the category of sustainable products and services for pets and animals. “Full Circle Feed ...

Year to year variation in yield is an inherent risk associated with crop production and many growers rely on intensive mechanical or chemical inputs to preserve crop yield in the face of fluctuating environmental conditions. However, as interest grows in alternative crop management systems which depend less on external inputs, determining the degree to which management systems can impact the ...

Composting Reduces Fuel and Labor Costs on Family Farms Jeff and Pam Riesgraf — who manage a certified organic dairy and crop operation near Jordan, Minnesota — began composting manure from their dairy herd in 1993. They had two major objectives. First, they wanted to reduce weed seeds naturally present in manure. At the same time, they understood the need to protect water quality by ...

WITHIN a 60-mile radius of my office here in central California, there are 1,000 dairies — each having an average of 2,000 cows. They generate over four million tons of manure annually, so we are pretty much in the manure business whether we want to be or not. Somebody has to manage this material and help the farmers utilize it properly, fulfilling its potential monetary value. That’s what we ...

The tropical legume sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea L.) could be a valuable green manure/cover crop for vegetable producers in the southeastern USA because of its rapid growth and large N2 fixing ability. Planting and termination date effects on biomass and N accumulation are relatively unknown for the region, but would help producers manage sunn hemp between summer and winter cash crops. We ...

Despite the fact that farming is one of the most important human activities that brings food to our tables, it contributes significantly to global pollution. Unsustainable farm practices result in the loss of biodiversity, climate changes, erosion, and the pollution of soil and water. However, when managed in a sustainable way, farming can be a source of solutions for future demands. Organic ...

Kilby Inc., a 600-cow dairy operation located in Colora, Maryland, has the only operational commercial anaerobic digestion (AD) system in the state. In 2009, Kilby Inc. (the dairy farm and milk production business) began construction of a covered lagoon digester, which started operating in March 2011. The digester input consists of flushed cow manure (98% by volume) and food waste (2%), including ...

Progress in community digesters will bring fresh jobs and local control back to farm country - plus offering answers for global warming. FROM THE MIDWEST where native grasses, field waste and wood chips are fueling new biorefineries that are locally-owned to the Northwest where some 50 million gallons of raw manure are producing electricity and dried bedding, community digesters and on-farm ...

In our recent feature, “Has Meat Met Its Match?,” writer Rowan Jacobsen explores ways people can (now and possibly in the future) reduce the environmental and food security impacts of their diets, including entomophagy (bug-eating), synthetic meat and vegetarian substitutes. If none of those fits your needs, there are plenty of other ways ...

Technology is being evaluated to demonstrate a potentially viable supplement to waste incineration at Department of Defense bases that support operations of deployed units. To help address the solid waste management challenges at Department of Defense contingency bases overseas, the National Defense Center for Energy and Environment (NDCEE) is demonstrating an in-vessel composting ...

AG CHOICE is an on-farm composting operation located in the scenic countryside of Andover, New Jersey. On the drive to tour their site, it was astounding just how much of New Jersey, our most densely populated state, is still rural. Jay and Jill Fischer operate the two-year-old facility, which is one of a kind in New Jersey. Jay also owns and operates a sawmill in the area, and it was while ...

In the fall of 2012, Brian Jones of Joneslan Farm in Hyde Park, Vermont spread the first load of manure that had gone through the farm’s new anaerobic digester. “It didn’t smell at all,” recalls Jones. “And we’ve been told that the nitrogen in the digested manure is more available to the plants we grow.” When the Joneslan Farm digester went on line in ...